The Palomino is a medium-sized American-bred rabbit that was developed in the 1950s. Since then, Palominos have gone on to become some of the most popular pet and show rabbits, thanks to their sweet disposition and striking appearance. Here is everything you need to know about the Palomino rabbit. The Palomino rabbit was developed almost by accident by a breeder called Mark Young in the 1950s at the Lone Pines Rabbitry. For a long time, Mark had been trying to create a breed that would put their rabbitry on the map, but to no avail.
Description
As a last-ditch effort, he decided to create a breed that would at least get recognition by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). This led to Mark crossbreeding many rabbit breeds. He used so many breeds that he lost count of what went into creating the Palomino Rabbit. Nevertheless, he eventually stumbled upon a fur color that he fancied, naming the new breed “Tawnie.” Mark kept at it, refining the Tawnie until it came to be the Palomino. However, at the time, he called it the “Washingtonian.” It was only after it became recognized by the ARBA that it came to be known as the Palomino rabbit. However, Young did not state the purpose of the Palomino. It seems as though he was simply breeding different types of rabbits to see what he could come up with. Nonetheless, since Lone Pines was a commercial rabbitry, and the Palomino just happened to have a commercial body, one would assume that the Palomino was created for meat production.
Palomino Rabbit Characteristics
The Palomino rabbits are large breed. They can be easily recognized by their unique fawny orange color. They have commercial type body. And their body type is similar to the New Zealand rabbit. Usually the body of the Palomino rabbit is medium in length with solid flesh and it has well rounded hindquarters Their body contain a smaller bone structure than other meat rabbit variety. And such smaller bone structure offers the breeder a superior meat ratio. They have brown colored eyes, and their ears are big and erect. There are two color varieties of the Palomino rabbit, which are Golden and Lynx.
The golden color variety is an orange-beige color over a white or cream undercoat. While the Lynx colored Palomino rabbit variety has a gray or silver color, mixing with an ornage-beige over the cream or white undercoat. The coat of the both type of Palomino rabbit variety is rude and full. Like some other rabbit breeds, the Palomino does are heavier than the bucks. On average the Palomino bucks weight about 3.6 to 4.5 kg and the does weight about 4 to 5 kg
Features
As we mentioned before; this is a commercial rabbit shape. When it is fully-grown, it will weigh somewhere in the region of 8-10lbs, which puts it firmly in the medium-sized rabbit category. Since this is likely a rabbit that was originally intended to be a meat rabbit, it is ‘fleshy’ in all the right places, just not overly so (i.e. this rabbit is not going to be overweight!). The fur comes in two different colors. Well, it comes in more, but none of these have been officially recognized as being a Palomino rabbit. Golden and Lynx are the two colors here, both of which have a white undercoat. This particular rabbit breed is always going to have brown eyes. In terms of fur length, the Palomino rabbit has short to medium length hair that is dreadfully simple to maintain, but we are going to take a little look at that in more depth soon.
Palomino Rabbit Lifespan
You can expect a Palomino rabbit to live somewhere between 5 and 8 years old. Which is the average Palomino rabbit lifespan. Since this is a breed that doesn’t have too many issues in the health department, in fact, there are no major causes for concern when it comes to the health of this breed. So, it is likely that the rabbit will live until the upper end of the spectrum.
Uses
Palomino may be a good choice for its meat as it is a large breed. So they are suitable for meat production. As it has an attractive golden color it is also good as a show-animal and they become very good pets.
Specification
| Species Name: | Oryctolagus cuniculus |
| Family: | Leporidae |
| Care Level: | Moderate |
| Temperament: | Docile |
| Color Form: | Golden and Lynx |
| Lifespan: | 8-10 years |
| Size: | 8-10 pounds |
| Diet: | Herbivorous |
| Compatibility: | Excellent |
Palomino Rabbit Price
$100.00 – $400.00